Turbine engines provide energy for a wide range of uses. A typical turbine engine comprises a compressor, a combustor, a high-pressure turbine, and a low-pressure turbine. Compressor and turbine blades are typically coupled to rotor discs, and these rotor discs are coupled to at least one rotor shaft. During operation of the turbine engine a rotor shaft rotates at high rates of speed and is supported by various bearings disposed along the length of the rotor shaft. These bearing generally require lubrication, which can be difficult to supply given the space constraints encountered in a turbine engine. Lubrication pathways must be provided which will adequately lubricate rotor shaft bearings and bearing components but which accommodate other components in the crowded turbine engine environment. One area of particular concern due to the difficulty of providing sufficient lubrication is the inner race, which supports the bearing and is disposed radially inward from the bearing.
To meet this need for lubrication pathways, previous efforts in the field have developed lubrication scoops which are disposed circumferentially about a rotor shaft. These scoops rotate with the rotor shaft and collect lubricant during rotation from either a lubricant reservoir or a lubricant jet which is sprayed in the direction or in the vicinity of the scoop. A plurality of vanes are used to collect lubricant, and fluid pathways are provided to supply the lubricant to various bearings and bearing components. Lubricant is moved through the fluid pathways by the rotational force of the rotor shaft; as the lubrication scoop rotates with the rotor shaft, lubricant is pushed through the fluid pathways and provided to the bearing.
Existing lubricant scoops in the art require the vanes and fluid pathways to be distanced sufficiently from the centerline of the rotor shaft such that sufficient circumferential scoop length and radial height is available to capture and retain incoming lubricant without impingement. These scoops therefore require relatively large diameter rotor shafts to be effective. Alternatively, these scoops must be designed with relatively large head height (i.e. the distance between the lubricant scoop body and the radially inner surface of a vane of the lubricant scoop). Since the space requirements of a turbine engine are typically highly constrained, there is thus a need in the art for lubricant scoops which can effectively provide lubricant to bearings and bearing components while also requiring less volume of turbine engine space, for example by functioning when attached to a smaller-diameter shaft or with a smaller head height than previous designs.
While the present disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the present disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.